Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 16 - Pago Pago, American Samoa - The American side of the Samoa equation
We made the 45-mile sail from Apia to Pago Pago and arrived ten hours before we left. That's because we went back in time 24 hours last night as we crossed the International Date Line from west to east. This is our second Friday, April 19th, and our second Samoa - this time, American Samoa. We docked in Pago Pago, the capital. It isn't pronounced like it looks. The letter "g" in Samoan is pronounced like "ng", so Pago Pago is pronounced Pango Pango.
Before we get into today, let’s talk about yesterday. At our prescribed sailing time, the Captain made an announcement that we were still waiting for a few passengers to arrive. Sometime after that, we sailed. It turns out that those passengers, all on their own non-Princess excursion, never made it back. The ship had a schedule so we sailed. Their passports were delivered to the port agent and we left them behind.
They rejoined the ship today after making their own way from Samoa to American Samoa. We heard this first-hand from the Staff Captain – the #2 officer on the ship, so I place high confidence in what he said. So, here we have direct proof that a cruise ship will leave you behind if you don’t get back to the ship when you’re on your own. They will wait if you’re on a cruise ship excursion, or in the worst exceptional case, will get you to the next port at their expense.
In the end, it all worked out, but I’m sure they were a little panicky and I’ll bet they won’t be late again.
On to today...
American Samoa is only about 76 square miles – smaller than The Villages, Florida where we reside. With its marine waters, it is about the size of Oregon or New Zealand. It has a steady temperature that averages 82F-83F all year long with the water warmer, between 82F and 86F. 90% of the island is untouched tropical rainforest making American Samoa quite lush. Much like Samoa. One thing is that with the U.S. oversight, the roads are much better than Samoa’s roads.
With the last two ports, we have upped our travel country count. This puts us at 62 United Nations member states and 84 countries overall. We're nearly 2/3 of the way toward our goal of 100 U.N. Member states plus all 50 states and all seven continents.
We arrived to heavy overcast and rain, but the travel gods smiled on us.
The rain lasted just long enough to raise the humidity but not cool the temperature. Normally, that's no big deal except today, the tour buses came without air conditioning.
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| Our tour bus looked like a converted school bus - it was equipped with hard wooden benches |
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| The inside was actually attractive with a nice wood ceiling |
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| Previous guests used the seat support as a makeshift ashtray - eww |
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| Our first stop was a scenic overlook for a view of Pola Island |
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| Google couldn't identify this bird |
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| I think these were white terns that were circling overhead |
Our next stop was at the National Park of American Samoa.
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| A look back at a local village |
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| Framed views were everywhere |
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| The ground was littered with these beautiful flowers - Barringtonia Asiatica |
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| Here's one up in a tree |
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| Bananas |
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| This is known as Noni, Great Morinda, Indian Mulberry, Mengkudu (Malay), Nonu/Nono |
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| Our guide called the opening behind us, The Bat Cave |
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| There were supposedly tons of bats in there |
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| She then pointed out multiple bats flying – cool! |
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| Except…if you look closely… |
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| These have beaks and bats don’t have beaks – I think these were frigatebirds – another guide misleading us with "facts" |
We made another stop at a scenic overlook where we could see our ship.
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| More terns |
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| We also did see a couple of bats – they were huge – they call them flying foxes here |
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| We drove by a couple of trees that were loaded with bats – if you look, you can see them hanging under the branches |
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| We passed by the ship on the way back toward the port area |
We also passed the tuna processing plant here in Pago Pago. Due to over-fishing, they don’t catch tuna here – everything is imported for processing.
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| The back of the plant was directly across from our ship |
We made a stop at the National Park building to enjoy a bit of air conditioning and use restrooms.
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| A whale jaw that washed ashore |
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| A fish basket |
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| Fish swim in and can't escape |
Our next stop was at the tour company office for light refreshments – fruit chips, local fruit, and even samples of the local beer.
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| A racing canoe |
We watched an awesome demonstration of basket weaving. He used a single frond from a coconut palm tree and expertly wove a basket in about five minutes.
We headed up the hill for one more scenic lookout at the site of the former tram that spanned the harbor. When cruise ships came in, they would move the car over the ship and shower it with flower petals. In a training exercise, a military pilot crashed into the cable, crashing the plane, destroying the tram, and subsequently igniting a fire and burning down a hotel. A memorial was erected to those who perished in the accident.
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| Remnents of the tramway |
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| That's our room to the left of the searchlight |
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| The crash memorial |
Our final stop was Flowerpot Rock. The two rocks, named Fatu and Futi sit just offshore. The story goes that two lovers, Fatu and Futi, capsized when in a canoe. When the canoe sank, the two were transformed into the two rocks. Futi, the woman, almost made it to shore while Fatu was farther out.
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| Fatu (left) and Futi (right) |
With our tour complete, we headed back to the ship.
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| Looking back from our room at the lookout |
We made one trivia today and it was brutal. Here are the ones we couldn’t get.
- Where was the first heart transplant performed – which hospital?
- Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town
- What is the highest-grossing Broadway play?
- We guessed Cats – it is The Lion King
- What materials were used in the earliest known form of contraception?
- Acacia leaves and honey or dung
- What was the only painting sold by Van Gogh in his lifetime?
- The Red Vineyard at Arles
- What is a group of unicorns known as?
- We knew this but couldn’t remember – a blessing
- What is the most popular color of toilet paper in France?
- When was eBay founded (1987, 1990, 1995, 2001)?
- How many times has the Mona Lisa been stolen?
- Only once – we thought more
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| Sailing away from Pago Pago |
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| Tonight's dinner menu |
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| I tried the pâté- it was pretty good and |
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| I had the turkey dinner - yum |
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| Arlona had the filet and shrimp |
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| Arlona had the crème brulée |
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| I had the Sacher Torte |
We had a nightcap at the Explorers Bar and tried our hand at World Flag Trivia – wow, that was tough. One team claimed that they got all 30 correct, but we highly doubt it as it was a very interesting selection of flags. If I wasn’t so tired, I’d go and gather them all for your guessing pleasure, but I will be calling it quits for tonight.
Tonight, we gain our last hour, moving to UTC-12. Tomorrow night, we’ll cross the International Date Line for the third time and move forward an entire day for the second time. All this date hopping has been confusing. We thought we had steakhouse reservations tonight as that’s what the schedule said, at least until we crossed the line last time and the reservation moved along with the date. Oh well, we’re sure not missing any meals.
Tomorrow is another sea day before we leap forward in time and arrive in Fiji.
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